Sawatch Labs Provides Suitability Assessment for Sound Transit
Fleet electrification is a popular approach as organizations strive to meet sustainability goals. It provides an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while lowering the fleet’s total cost of ownership (TCO). However, in spite of the benefits, successfully implementing an electrification strategy can be an extremely difficult process due to the complexity and variability of fleet operations. When Sound Transit, one of our long-time telematics clients, established the goal of reducing GHG emissions and transitioning all energy use to carbon-free sources by 2050, including the introduction of the agency’s first battery electric vehicle (BEV) bus fleet, they turned to Sawatch Labs for assistance.
The Challenge: Meet Sustainability Goals Through Fleet Electrification
With over 250 vehicles of varying duty cycles in its fleet, Sound Transit needed a way to identify candidates for electrification. The identification process would require a comprehensive analysis of driving and operations for each vehicle. In addition to determining which vehicles could be a viable fit for EV replacement, further hurdles surrounding vehicle procurement have hindered EV adoption. Twelve months after Sound Transit placed an order to procure three 1/2 – ton pickup trucks, the OEM canceled the order. The sudden cancellation left Sound Transit with end-of-life vehicles and an urgency to replace them. To meet the challenge of reaching sustainability goals through electrification, Sound Transit required a two-part plan. First, they needed to identify suitable candidates for electrification. In tandem, they also needed to identify when, where, and how much each vehicle would need to charge so they could begin installation of charging infrastructure. With these insights, Sound Transit can begin the vehicle procurement process and charging infrastructure installation process.
Our Solution: ezEV & ezIO Analysis
Over the next 12 months, Sawatch Labs leveraged the existing telematics data on Sound Transit’s vehicles to analyze day-to-day operations. The two software analytics tools used were ezEV and ezIO, Sawatch Labs’ EV suitability assessment software and EV infrastructure planning software, respectively.
The ezEV suitability assessment tracked vehicle usage across Sound Transit’s 250-vehicle fleet to determine which vehicles were candidates for replacement. The software assessed each vehicle’s daily operational needs to determine range requirements, charging needs, and ideal duty cycles. A TCO comparison between EVs and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles provided an overview of all potential replacement vehicles and their potential cost savings.
The ezIO infrastructure planning software used actual daily driving to provide insights into how much energy every vehicle would need on a day-to-day basis. The software identified exact charging locations based on parking habits and generated projected charging requirements. The knowledge gained from the ezIO assessment has informed Sound Transit’s EV infrastructure plan helping them to right-size Sound Transit’s electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE). The detailed charging needs assessment will make it possible for Sound Transit to optimize charging schedules while keeping electricity costs down.
The Result: Identifying Replacement Plan
Using the high-fidelity data gathered from over 1.7 million miles of driving, Sound Transit identified 104 vehicles as a good fit for electrification. Insights gathered from ezEV and ezIO determined that replacing these vehicles with an EV would reduce GHG emissions by as much as 5,000 tons over the lifetime of these vehicles. Sound Transit now has a tentative replacement plan through 2029 that will propel the agency toward its sustainability goals. The analysis outlined vehicle use habits and dwell periods. This allowed the fleet manager to move forward confidently knowing which vehicles can be replaced while minimizing the impact on day-to-day operations. Following the successful analysis, Sound Transit discovered that in addition to reducing GHG emissions, the fleet electrification project would result in a total cost ownership savings of $2 million.